Norb and I spent the evening with Robert Delfs, who drove us across to the Kuta side of Bali to a party hosted by Jos (ex-TNC) and Lida Pet (WWF). Also there was Mark Heighes, whom I had only heard about previously from his aunt, Valerie Taylor, and from my friend, Douglas Seifert. Dr. Mark Erdmann (CI) was also there, along with a bunch of small children and Dutch divers.

What I discovered is that everyone seems to know each other in the little intersection between photographers and conservation researchers.

We had pizza, wine, and good conversation about Raja Ampat and Komodo, the two regions most of the folks in the room were invested in.

Oh, and here’s a transcript of the first conversation I had with one of the Dutch divers:

Him: so, you are a photographer? Me: yes. Him: have you entered this competition in Singapore? Me: uhhh… no. (I have no idea what he is talking about.) Him: why? are you not good enough? At this point, I checked out and moved on to someone else.

Stephen Frink is going to be on the Pindito while we’re out on the Seahorse. I hope to see him out on the seas of Raja Ampat!

We still have three domestic flights and a night in Ambon before reaching the boat. Ugh…